With the Election Commission coming out with the Assembly poll schedule in Punjab, political parties in the state on Friday decided to gear up preparations and rope in Bollywood stars for electioneering.

Welcoming the February 13 date for the election, the ruling Congress said it would be forming various election committees in view of the polls and further intensify its mass contact programme.

Next month, top leaders from the Congress and even some Bollywood stars could be expected to add zing to the poll campaign, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Shamsher Singh Dullo said.

Main opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) said it was good that the model code of conduct would now come into force.

"We request the EC to see the code is enforced as our party apprehends the Amarinder Singh-led government will try to misuse the official machinery," its secretary Daljit Singh Cheema said.

SAD ally Bharatiya Janata Party echoed its views. "At least now, the Congress government should fear misusing of the official machinery," state BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna said.

Communist Party of India and Communist Party Marxist leaders Joginder Dayal and Balwant Singh alleged that the Congress government was "misleading people about its achievements, which are only on paper".

Huge sums were spent in the Congress Vikas Yatras "highlighting non-existent achievements only to fool the people," Dayal said.